What is the National Children’s Choir?

The National Children’s Choir is a school-based choral experience for primary school children.  Affiliated pupils from 4th, 5th or 6th classes in Irish Primary Schools learn a common repertoire of songs that more than satisfies many objectives of the music programme at the senior end of the primary school. 

The programme is selected and prepared by our three Musical Directors, Órla Gillan, Anne Purcell and Mairéad Déiseach, who then train teachers at a Summer Course to deliver the programme to their pupils. 

The children learn the repertoire in their own schools, taught by their own teachers, and join with other local schools three times a year to rehearse these songs with one of our Assistant Musical Directors.

Every child will participate in a local concert, and a percentage of these children will perform in the National Concert Hall, Dublin under the baton of the musical directors.

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In 2018/2019 we had 9,301 children from 139 Primary Schools nationwide, perform in 28 concerts singing 15 songs from Classical to pop, folk to musical theatre, traditional to newly composed, unison to 4 part harmony, and in many languages.

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Quality choral singing is alive and well in Irish Primary schools thanks to our talented, hard working, enthusiastic and dedicated teachers, who teach the National Children's Choir repertoire alongside the rest of the curriculum.

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Be very proud teachers, parents, and most of all children - What an amazing achievement!